How to find a good programmer or web developer

1. Finding a good programmer is simple once you know how.. though can take a lot of time and energy.

first of all you need a project to use to source a good coder. This product needs to be a product you create specifically for the purpose of finding a coder.
This product needs to be secret, needs to be able to be found on the web if anyone other than you uses it. Should be a simple $50 to $100 script.

go to both

www.elance.com
www.rentacoder.com
create user accounts and list your project. list a brief outline of the script you need created. not giving out too much information. You wouldnt believe how many people loose the valuable IP by putting way to much info in their project descriptions. There are lots of people mining the project descriptions looking for something new. If you do indeed create a successful product.. in a very short time you will find a project to try to duplicate what your product does. This happens to us all the time. Which as resulted in very nasty emails being delivered to project listers. The idea is to release a script idea that less than honest people 1. can use for themselves or 2 on sell.

Let me say this clearly.. Good programmers, program. They do not do marketing, they do not use their products to make money. Good coders, just code and get paid to code, its that simple. This is the kind of coder you are looking for. so test new coders with products they can use themselves to make money , or onsell.

Once the product is created, be friendly and offer to let them use it to make money. dont try to trap him/her as his reply might be yes, just to keep you happy. you need to find out if this programmer is only happy making money coding. If you find a coder that wants to make money via marketing, even if he or she is great, you will loose them in a period of time as they will not need your income. They will soon be able to generate a lot. and any time you have put into this person will be lost.

Repeat the above as many times as needed to find that coder, who only codes and does nothing else.

I personally use coders online from Asia, India and Russia.

This post is about outsourcing coders. I have full time staff in my office aswell. Though this is another story.

So its a simple process, though can take a lot of time to do correctly and find your perfect coder. Once you have done this work, you need to develop a relationship with them. I always give bonuses on each project we create together.

2. Then protect your asset. I can put to you, about 80% of the time, people Ive met online who ive put in touch with any of my coders and always asked them to do work for them directly without going through me. People do not understand the amount of time money and work it takes to source a good coder. This coder works for my company and is available to be used, but via my company only of course.

main points:
Create a product that a coder can use against you. test it against many coders.. find the one that works with integrity and is only interested in coding.

Protect your asset. Never give out your coders info to anyone. Anyone can use your coder as long as they go via you. and do not have direct contact with your coder.

Find a coder that just codes and is not interested in Internet marketing or using the scripts he develops to make money. You will find the answer to this question over time.

Make sure this coder is available on an Instant Messenger, do not use a coder who only communicates via email. and is online a LOT. you do not want to be at your computer for days waiting for the person creating your products to come online.

When you start developing a lot of products via rentacoder or elance , never use the same username. create a new one for each project. You do not want people knowing who you are, there are people in there tracking specific people trying to steal their ideas.

To be really successful on the web, you do need your own coder. Having your own coder provides you with so much flexibility in terms of product and site creation.

If you source a coder from one of the above countries listed. you will find that this coder will also be able to source other labor for you to use, e.g. support or that work you hate doing yourself in terms of bulk work etc.

Remember coders also know a lot of coders. so if this person cannot do one project you require, they can most likely put you onto another who can. Right now I’d have over 30 coders on my Instant messengers. which grew from two main employees.

If it takes 12 months to find that perfect coder, it will be a well spent 12 months. Though you might be lucky like me and get lucky first time up at elance.

I was asked this question in a PM. so I thought I’d post the answer here, as I get this question often.

Good luck on finding your perfect coder. There are literally 1000’s and 1000’s out there that are looking for work right now. You just need to find the right one for you.